Any Mtn Bikers on RME?

[TRD270]

I want to stay 27.5" it feels more playful to me.

Full suspension for sure for me.
That said: Agility is more important to me than monster trucking over boulders.

My current bike is a large. At 5'10" do I want a medium or medium/large?

I love my Diamondback release 2, short chain stay, playful geometry. A new one will set you back just over budget though. Didn't find any used in my search.

 

[jeeper]

Talk to me about racks. Specifically about mounting style. I am going to build a rack on the back out our camper. Looking at different vertical racks, it seems like there are multiple ways bikes are secured. Some set the top tire into a hoop, some rest the forks in a cup shape holder, and some have basic hooks that the handle bars hang on. Most have the back tire resting against a horizontal bar and are just tied or strapped against it.
I want to keep tires on, and want load and unload to be as quick and easy as possible.
Do you have opinions on what mounting style is better for one reason or another??

 

[Gravy]

I love my Diamondback release 2, short chain stay, playful geometry. A new one will set you back just over budget though. Didn't find any used in my search.

Nice. Any other ones you guys have seen?

 

[Tebbsjeep]

I got a new to me 2019 GT Force Comp. After going for a ride, I feel like I need bars with a higher rise. What amount of rise do you guys ride with?

 

[Kevin B.]

I got a new to me 2019 GT Force Comp. After going for a ride, I feel like I need bars with a higher rise. What amount of rise do you guys ride with?

Mine is mostly flat, with a little bit of rise and sweep. What makes you think you need more rise?

Play with your seat position and handlebar location before you go swapping out bars, IMO. Having your seat too high or too far back can make you lean on the bars and feel like you need higher bars. If your seat position is fine, slip some more spacers underneath your stem to raise the bars. If you need more ups and run out of length on the steerer, maybe look for a shorter and/or higher stem next? Going to a riser bar would be my last resort.

 

[Tebbsjeep]

I noticed my wrists were at a weird angle on my ride today, and I just thought different bars might help with that. When I got home, I rolled my bars further forward and changed the seat position a little. My bike also has a "flip chip" to change the geo slightly, so I flipped it and we'll see how it rides tomorrow.

 

[Kevin B.]

Nice. Any other ones you guys have seen?

Have you scanned the MTBEU Gear Swap page on Facebook? Saw a guy mention a medium Giant Trance for $1200.

Fezzari is local, you could probably get them to build you one of these with a 27.5 or 27.5+ setup instead of 29? I don't know anything about the bike but it's specced well enough and right at your budget: https://www.fezzari.com/plus-tire/abajo-peak

 

[benjy]

Talk to me about racks. Specifically about mounting style. I am going to build a rack on the back out our camper. Looking at different vertical racks, it seems like there are multiple ways bikes are secured. Some set the top tire into a hoop, some rest the forks in a cup shape holder, and some have basic hooks that the handle bars hang on. Most have the back tire resting against a horizontal bar and are just tied or strapped against it.
I want to keep tires on, and want load and unload to be as quick and easy as possible.
Do you have opinions on what mounting style is better for one reason or another??

I'll take a stab at this... Vertical racks are harder to load, especially for vertically challenged people. I think the easiest to load are the tire hoop style. I have a northshore 4 bike rack, and it's hard to beat for stowability and light weight. I considered DIY using the Lolo bike rack components. I've never loaded a Lolo style rack, but they look the hardest to load.

I like the northshore, but don't necessarily love it. It does rub paint off the (forgot the word for where the stanchions connect to the steerer tube)

 

[Unimog]

My preference are horizontal racks. I like the kind that don't touch the frame, but just grab on the wheels/tires. I have the Thule. Disadvantage is it is heavy and I think it takes more room than the vertical ones.

 

[Kevin B.]

My preference are horizontal racks. I like the kind that don't touch the frame, but just grab on the wheels/tires. I have the Thule. Disadvantage is it is heavy and I think it takes more room than the vertical ones.

My three place Thule takes up about as much horizontal real estate as a vertical rack that can hold five or six bikes. I agree that they're way more convenient but they just don't have the capacity.

 

[Tonkaman]

Help me spend my money.
My wife wants to take over my bike.
If I wanted a newer bike -probably a trail geometry bike and I wanted to spend less than two grand.
Used does not scare me.

This is just a little over budget, but I still think you should get it!

Turbo Levo

www.specialized.com

 

[glockman]

I want to stay 27.5" it feels more playful to me.

Full suspension for sure for me.
That said: Agility is more important to me than monster trucking over boulders.

My current bike is a large. At 5'10" do I want a medium or medium/large?

Size depends on the bike. I rode a gt medium that felt bigger than my Giant or Rocky Mountain Larges. Id say you will probably like a large in most bike brands and models though.
You could get a decent Giant Trance or Reign for that much. I have a 26'er Giant Reign in a large that I am thinking of selling. It's been converted to a 1/10, has SLX brakes and a dropper post.

I think that pipeline would be nice. I love my Rocky Mountain Instinct but its a 29er.
Buy something and lets go ride. Or come ride my Giant and see how you like some of the stuff it has and we can shoot the poop.

 

[Gravy]

Hooman powered dirtbike 2.0 aquired. And under budget.

2018 Stumpjumper 27.5" GX build.


First thoughts. It's awesome.
The Crankworx Stamp pedals are rad.

 

[Unimog]

There is a reason the stumpjumper has been such a good seller over the years. It is a very competent all-around bike! I have an older 26" model in the stable that I would part with, but it is an XL.

 

[Gravy]

Rode Levitate and Vertigo with Chad this morning.
Big brakes are good. Suspension is good. Chad is getting quick on downhills. Don't eat milk and cereal before big braking bumps or you'll have curdled milk guts.

 

[Corban_White]

I'll take a stab at this... Vertical racks are harder to load, especially for vertically challenged people. I think the easiest to load are the tire hoop style. I have a northshore 4 bike rack, and it's hard to beat for stowability and light weight. I considered DIY using the Lolo bike rack components. I've never loaded a Lolo style rack, but they look the hardest to load.

I like the northshore, but don't necessarily love it. It does rub paint off the (forgot the word for where the stanchions connect to the steerer tube)

Crown

Talk to me about racks. Specifically about mounting style. I am going to build a rack on the back out our camper. Looking at different vertical racks, it seems like there are multiple ways bikes are secured. Some set the top tire into a hoop, some rest the forks in a cup shape holder, and some have basic hooks that the handle bars hang on. Most have the back tire resting against a horizontal bar and are just tied or strapped against it.
I want to keep tires on, and want load and unload to be as quick and easy as possible.
Do you have opinions on what mounting style is better for one reason or another??

I really liked the Velocirax @sixstringsteve has. However, I would caution against bikes on the back of the camp trailer unless you make sure everything is secured REALLY well. The porpoise motion on long trailers can have a tendency to want to catapult bikes (or other cargo). Way rougher ride back there than on the back of a truck. It can be done, just need to make sure the hitch and everything it attaches to as well as the rack are all up to the task. I built a cargo rack for our last trailer and it attached to the trailer in 3 places which were secured to the frame very well and it did pretty good.

 

[jeeper]

Crown



I really liked the Velocirax @sixstringsteve has. However, I would caution against bikes on the back of the camp trailer unless you make sure everything is secured REALLY well. The porpoise motion on long trailers can have a tendency to want to catapult bikes (or other cargo). Way rougher ride back there than on the back of a truck. It can be done, just need to make sure the hitch and everything it attaches to as well as the rack are all up to the task. I built a cargo rack for our last trailer and it attached to the trailer in 3 places which were secured to the frame very well and it did pretty good.

I liked that rack a lot, and was thinking something similar.
I’ve also thought about finding a way to attach the bikes on the front of the camper, and let them match the slope of the trailer front to keep them off the back for the bounce factor as well. We nearly lost a couple bikes with the last hitch hauler because a set of rr tracks made for a while ride at the back of the camper!

 

[Gravy]

I ran Wild Rose yesterday and liked it so much I took my wife up it tonight and added Chukar loop.
It was her first real (harder) singletrack experience.
Did great except for clipping a tree on the outside of an uphill switchback which twisted her bars 90* the wrong way and taking a dive into the scrub oak down below.
and turning her phone into a banana...

a scraped up elbow and a little blood on the leg.
To her credit she hopped up and finished the next 2 miles of trail with a smile.

 

[Kevin B.]

Hahaha, this is going to cause so much heartburn....

Interview: Trek's Travis Brown On Experimenting With 32

Big wheels aren't coming any time soon, but Trek's field test lead has a lot to say about them.

www.pinkbike.com

Not gonna lie, I'm interested to ride one. Going from 26" to 29" was such a game changer for me that I've always wondered if even bigger gets even better...

 

[benjy]

That was a good read! Kinda makes me want to ride a 36er just for fun. One bit of the article that stood out to me was this little comment. I just haven’t been able to get excited about 29ers, and I wonder if this is why...

If there's stuff where you're braking really hard and like dumping your momentum and then you directly have to accelerate again, those circumstances are faster on a smaller wheel.

I’m not at all a fast rider, and he basically just described my riding style